Veteran PKR leader Syed Husin Ali today revealed that the party's supremo Anwar Ibrahim was not in favour of setting his wife Wan Azizah Wan Ismail on the path to the Selangor menteri besar 's seat which began with the Kajang Move.

Syed Husin Ali, a former PKR deputy president, said it was he who had proposed to the party's political bureau that Wan Azizah, who is also party president, be the candidate for the Kajang by-election.

"The were many reasons why Anwar (right) did not agree with having Wan Azizah (as a candidate).

"One of the reasons was that he respected her decision to focus on her family, especially their grandchildren.

"She (Wan Azizah) wanted to withdraw from all the pressures of politics," he told Malaysiakini when contacted.

He said after Wan Azizah won the by-election, the PKR leadership council subsequently decided that she would be a candidate for menteri besar based on the earlier political bureau decision.

"Anwar was just there to announce but people have been accusing him of pushing her to become menteri besar," said Syed Husin (right).

Anwar has come under heavy fire for alleged nepotism over the party's proposal to have Wan Azizah replace Selangor Menteri Besar Abdul Khalid Ibrahim.

The situation is being aggravated by Khalid's refusal to step down in defiance of the party's decision,  causing strife within PKR  and souring ties with its Pakatan Rakyat partners.

Anwar had praised Abdul Khalid financial performance in the state but said Selangorians expected better performance amid several controversies that has plagued the state ,including the confiscation of copies of the Bible and the Kinrara-Damansara Expressway (Kidex) project.